


Reavers

by spartanroses (babybrotherdean)



Series: God of War Week [2]
Category: God of War (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-20
Updated: 2018-08-20
Packaged: 2019-06-29 23:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15739464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babybrotherdean/pseuds/spartanroses
Summary: Atreus' first kill.





	Reavers

**Author's Note:**

> My second piece for God of War Week! This time for the "monsters and enemies" theme. I wasn't sure at first what to do for this one, but the bit with the reavers is just so... guh.

Not once in his life has Atreus had the chance to meet another human being.

He has his parents, of course. Mother and Father have always been there, constant in their presence- or, in Father’s case, his absence- and with them, he is familiar. Familiar in the way they behave, the way they speak, the way they look at him. All of it is known, and for the most part, it is comfortable. It is safe.

The reavers, as they begin to creep closer and speak to each other in hurried whispers, are anything but.

He’s still reeling from his fall, unsteady on his feet as he tries to process what’s going on. He understands what they’re saying, but none of it makes sense to him; he knows what it is to be hungry, but the crazed look these men wear is entirely foreign. It’s desperation personified, their limbs trembling and their faces thin and sunken. Despite the terror that threatens to choke him, Atreus can’t tear his eyes away.

“Boy.” Father speaks lowly, and Atreus realizes, numbly, that he has drawn his axe. That he’s pushing Atreus behind him, hidden from these men. Protective. “Stay behind me.”

The reavers are still speaking, but Father seems intent on ignoring them. Atreus wants to protest, because he can see what’s coming- can see it in the set of his father’s shoulders, the pale fingers gripping knives and swords, the threatening way that the strangers advance on them- and he feels sick just thinking about it.

_ They’re people_, he wants to say. Wants to scream it until he tastes blood.  _ We’re all just people. _

Except that none of it seems to matter right then and there. Not as one of them lunges forward and is met with the blade of his father’s axe.

Things get messy after that, and it’s all Atreus can do to keep himself out of the way. Of course he’s seen his father fight before, but he’s never found it truly terrifying until now. Now that his brutal strength and ruthless efficiency are aimed at other human beings, Atreus sees him in an entirely new light; something violent and disruptive in this ancient place. 

He doesn’t notice the reaver that comes for him until it’s too late.

The man is bigger than he is, getting right up in his face and trying to take him to the ground, but Atreus reacts quickly and entirely on instinct. Mother’s knife fits in his hand like an extension of his very being, and it cuts through skin and muscle like they’re made of fine cloth, and then they’re overbalancing, the both of them going down hard as Father shouts his name-

Time stands still for a few seconds. Atreus can’t breathe; first because the wind is knocked out of him when he hits the ground, and then because of the man’s weight settled over him, too much to push out of the way on his own. And there’s the smell, too; oppressive and all-consuming. A little bit like something rotting as the man huffs out his last breath. Atreus chokes on it as the reality of the situation comes over him, little by little. By the time Father reaches him, he’s frozen, the entire world reduced to static and meaningless noise.

_ We’re all just people. _

The tears come unbidden, and Atreus feels like he might throw up as the weight of what he’s just done settles over him.

There’s no coming back from this, he thinks. Not ever.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! <3


End file.
